1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to identifying objects of interest and, in particular, to perimeter surveillance for identifying objects of interest. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for perimeter surveillance for identifying objects of interest from traffic in an area.
2. Background
Perimeters are boundaries that divide areas that are often monitored to ensure a desired level of security and access between areas. For example, with a perimeter such as a border between two countries, border security is important for controlling traffic along the border between the two countries. Border security is used to control the movement of vehicles, people, and other objects between the borders of the two countries.
As another example, with a perimeter around an area such as a camp, a base, or a group of buildings, perimeter surveillance is important for ensuring a desired level of security or protection for the camp or the group of buildings. In a military application, this is known as force protection.
Border surveillance includes obtaining information about the movement of objects across or near a border. Border surveillance involves obtaining information to identify potential threats, intrusions, and unauthorized crossings of a border.
Sensor systems generate information about the movement of objects across or near a border. The sensor systems may include visible light cameras, infrared cameras, radar systems, motion sensors, pressure sensors, smart fences, unattended ground sensors, and other suitable types of sensors. The sensor systems may generate information in an area including a border, an area near the border, or some other area of interest.
Human operators review the information generated by sensor systems and determine whether an object of interest is present that may require additional investigation, interception, or some other action.
Information is often in the form of tracks displayed on a display device. The tracks are indications of movement of one or more objects in an area. These tracks may be located on roads, bridges, prairie, desert, water, or other types of terrain within an area. Human operators gain experience when monitoring information for a particular area over time. For example, a human operator may over time gain knowledge of when certain tracks do not indicate an object of interest. Further, a human operator also may receive training about tracks in a particular area from other operators who are experienced with monitoring information for the area. In this manner, a human operator may identify that tracks generated on a particular time and day over a particular location in an area may represent traffic from objects that are not of interest.
For example, a human operator may realize from experience, training, or both, that tracks across the road and through the pasture may be for cattle. As another example, a human operator also may realize that tracks on a particular road at a particular time represent vehicles that are authorized to be present. On the other hand, an inexperienced operator may not realize that these types of tracks were not made by objects of interest.
Without the experience, training, or both, the operator may falsely identify that these tracks are for objects of interest. As a result, investigations of these tracks may occur more often than needed because of false positives.
Time and expense is needed for the experience, training, or both, needed for reducing the occurrence of objects being identified as objects of interest when they are actually not of interest. As a result, extra operators may be needed until newer operators can gain the experience and training for a particular border area.
Further, when a human operator is moved from one area to a new area, that human operator will require time to learn about the traffic in the new area. As a result, more objects may be identified as objects of interest than desired while the human operator gains experience in the new area.
Identifying these undesired objects is called a false alarm. An inexperienced operator may also mistake objects of interest for ordinary traffic. This mistake is called a miss. Both false alarms and misses are problems in perimeter surveillance, whether the perimeter is a border between countries or around an area such as a group of buildings. With a false alarm, resources are wasted in responding to the false alarm. With a miss, intrusion across the perimeter is not prevented or managed.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that take into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.